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Welcome
The Scottish Council Foundation is Scotland’s leading think tank. Politically independent, our work bridges thinking and practice to provide innovative and practical solutions to many of the pressing social, economic and environmental challenges facing Scotland. Within the dynamic policy environment created by devolution, SCF provides a space for the debate and sharing of radical new ideas.
Director gives evidence at the Calman Commission
On Friday 26 September, SCF Director Andrew Harris gave evidence to the Commission on Scottish Devolution (the ‘Calman Commission’) in a session at the Scottish Parliament. Andrew offered the Commission the SCF’s views on possible issues for a different devolution settlement for Scotland within the UK, but reiterated that the SCF doesn’t have a prior position on the constitutional question. In his comments, Andrew stressed the need to ensure that any future devolution settlement is regarded as legitimate not just in Scotland but across the whole of the UK, to the extent of involving other UK voters in the decision if necessary. He also suggested that while many people were coming to quite clear conclusions about a different level of autonomy for Scotland, the same attention has not so far been paid to the question of equity. In any devolution settlement autonomy and equity – particularly in the provision of universal services - have to be balanced in a way that the population find acceptable. It seems that, so far at least, the debate over the right level of autonomy for Scotland hasn’t been connected with an equally-important debate about what differences we’re all prepared to see in service provision across the UK if the settlement is changed. Obviously that wouldn’t be an issue for an independent Scotland, but in the context of Andrew’s earlier call for a full examination of all the options (see his article in Holyrood magazine which we reported here) a debate on the right balance between autonomy and equity could be very helpful.
Evaluation of the Older Learners Programme Experience Counts
The Scottish Council Foundation has recently completed a review of the Older Learners Programme Experience Counts. The Employability and Skills Division at the Directorate for Lifelong Learning of the Scottish Government introduced the 'Experience Counts' programme to encourage participation in learning for those aged over 50. The programme was designed to encourage Sector Skills Councils ( SSCs) to collaborate with employers and learning providers to develop and deliver bite size or taster courses aimed at older learners (aged 50 and over) within their sectors. Funding totaling £556,000 for the programme was available in the financial years 2005-2008.
The aims of the programme were to:-
- Encourage partnership working between Sector Skills Councils, learning providers and employers;
- Support training needs analyses targeting the skills needs of the 50 and over workforce with particular emphasis on employability skills
- Encourage older workers back into learning - to make them more productive in their current job and raise their confidence to acquire new skills;
- Support the development and delivery of learning opportunities in response to the outcomes from the training needs analyses
Maintaining and enhancing the skills and expertise of older employees will grow in importance as the workforce ages. This programme has gone some way to addressing some of the barriers to participation in learning. A total of 166 learners, 51 employers and 23 learning providers participated across eight projects. Delivery of learning materials was mainly through learning providers. A small number of employers with appropriate facilities opted to deliver the learning in-house. The learning on offer was generally designed to meet immediate or short term job needs or roles, with a focus on competence rather than longer term employability skills or personal development. Most of the learning was targeted towards employees working in skilled jobs, with very little involvement from employees in supervisory or management roles. A full copy of the report is available at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/09/09115213/0
Power to the poor
One does not need to be a long range weather forecaster to predict that many Scots are in for a long hard winter. When leaders of Britain's six big energy suppliers appeared before the Business and Enterprise parliamentary select committee yesterday, they warned that further big increases in gas and electricity prices are both imminent and inevitable.
See more from this article in The Herald >
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The heads of the UK's biggest energy firms have warned householders to brace themselves for even higher bills as many already struggle to meet the rising cost of domestic services.
See more from this article in The Herald >
Constitutional Conversation
Amidst the clamour of the current constitutional debate, the cries of ‘bring it on’ and the counsels of despair, many commentators have so far failed to emphasise something important about the implications of any referendum on independence. In an independence referendum, unlike a general election, the Scottish people would be asked to make a decision that would have an impact not just for the next parliament but for generations. That’s a much bigger decision than whether to give a particular political party four years in government.
Read more here >
Annual Lecture 2008
Hamish McRae delivered a thoughtfully optimistic lecture on Scotland's future role in an ever more global world economy at SCF's Annual Lecture on 27 May.
Speaking at Edinburgh University's Playfair Library Mr McRae argued that through maximising its strong brand, its environment, its financial skills and through its close proximity to Europe and Scandinavia, Scotland could find a unique niche as a small nation in the world economy. However he drew on evidence from the Republic of Ireland to highlight the potential economic and social risks associated with quick economic and population growth.
Click here for reaction, pictures and podcast of the lecture.
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